Now Leaving Night Vale
by PureLionn
Summary: The only person in Night Vale to follow traditional physics, a genderfluid radio intern, a disgruntled scientist who can't leave, and an illegal bookworm, while experimenting with the outside world, accidentally call attention to Night Vale. As real-world police storm the city, they have to find a way to undo the mayhem and save the only thing they liked about Night Vale: Cecil.
1. Chapter 1

CHAPTER ONE: A Beautiful Human

 **Now Leaving Night Vale: A story about a young man who, for whatever reason, finds himself unable to conform to Night Vale's nonconformity. He doesn't lift into the air when gravity stops working. He can't call the secret police with the microphones hidden in his house. The street cleaners don't terrify him. The Library is normal, if not a little isolated. And the Hooded Figures pass by him without a glance.**

 **When he and a few new friends try to band together to leave Night Vale, a dream they've all shared for separate reasons, they end up causing unimaginable mayhem for those left behind. It turns out the government doesn't like learning about cities that having unaccounted for possibility to create weapons of mass destruction.**

 **When Cecil is injured and taken as part of their 'security' program, the small gang takes it upon themselves to save and undo what they've done to their town. But some things are much harder than they seem, and even with Carlos and Dana and everyone else who loves Cecil, it still might not be enough.**

 **Now Leaving Night Vale is purely fan-made, and I do not own Welcome to Night Vale or anything to do with it.**

 **Please feel free to comment, review, follow, like, do everything! It makes my day hearing from you, and I'd love to know if I'm doing a good job. Thanks for reading!**

PJ Noteworthy was a musician. You know, the kind that sometimes shows up in the supermarket to chant children's nursery rhymes? Sort of like that, but with considerably more crying.

He specialized in guitar, piano, drums, tuba, saxophone, harmonica, violin, double bass, (it was actually a cello, but nobody believed him), kazoo, piccolo, viscera whistles, the spoons, and he could sing. At least, this is what his resume said. In reality, nobody had seen him touch any instruments but the violin, double bass (cello), and the spoons. Everyone could play a viscera whistle, so it wasn't that special.

"PJ Noteworthy" was no where close to his real name. But then again, did that make it less useful? That is what he told people, so it was as real as any other name.

PJ's ultimate goal was to get his music played on the radio. To have Cecil play it, at any point, would be an absolute dream come true. Everyone would hear it. Everyone would have an opinion on it. They may be bad opinions, but at least they'd be opinions about a previously opinionless thing. He, so far, had yet to achieve anything close to this.

It was on a summer day, a day that was hot without being overly bearing, and humid without any actual humidity, that he wander down the quiet street. The kind of day that made you want to run barefoot through a grassy field, to paint art and make music and sing at the top of your lungs and dance all the time. The kind of day that made you forget that you were a human, living in a human world, and fanciful stuff like that in illogical, and overall useless.

PJ turned into Dark Owl Records before he'd realized that had been his destination. The building was lit dimly, with fairy lights spread out over the rows of records, the only light source in the building. Michelle Nyugen was the manager of the place, and she was there, every day, at the same times, like clockwork. A reliable person in a relatively unreliable town.

He had come for one thing in particular, under the guise of needing something else, but that was how it always was.

"Hey, Michelle," he said, waving awkwardly, as at the same time he'd tried to lean on the counter, so he ended up waving by rubbing his hand against the cold surface. Michelle seemed not to notice.

"Hey, PJ," she echoed. Her voice seemed hollow, and the leather pants she was wearing were preventing her from sitting properly. She was also wearing a leather shirt, and a leather collar, and he would not have been surprised to see her wearing leather shoes.

Dark Owl Records had been through a lot in the last year. From the failed band Michelle had tried to start, and the free concert that had left all of the staff screaming in the desert.

Regardless, they'd bounced back like the champions that they were, and PJ was back to his usual schedule of lurking about in the records shop.

"Have you got in it?" PJ asked, still using the false pretense for being here, while discreetly scanning his eyes around for the real reason.

"Think so. You wanted the newest Blue Hardly album, right?" Michelle asked, stiffly walking out from behind her desk to lead him down the dark isles of records. PJ didn't need to confirm, as she'd already started, and she was right, so why bother.

"Hardly's here," she declared, beckoning to the bottom shelf. "If you find it, don't forgot to give it a tear before trying to touch it," she warned as an afterthought, aware that PJ often did forget to do a lot of the little, mundane Night Vale rituals that came to everyone else so easily.

He bent down, spotting immediately the mottled blue cover of the new album. Blue Hardly was one of his favourite artists, really his only inspiration for becoming a musician himself. Blue's music was absolutely amazing. It made him want to dance and sing and capture fireflies in jars. But that was ultimately useless, again.

PJ's father had always told him that if it was ultimately useless, it probably wasn't useful. PJ hadn't known how to argue with this.

He also, suspiciously, didn't know who is father was, so the reasoning behind listening to the man seemed flawed.

He glanced at his watch. 6:59.

"Hey, Michelle. Cecil's show's on about now. Mind turning on the radio?" he called, glancing away from the rows of records, before turning back to it. He pretended not to have found it, to be able to kill a little bit more time here.

"I know what to do," Michelle growled back, but he heard the static from the radio anyways, at least, it was static until the Night Vale Community Radio theme started playing to introduce the host.

Not many people missed Cecil's nightly show. Not many people _liked_ Cecil's show, to be fair, as many thought he spent much too long on his personal life, too long with veiled criticisms of other people's lives, shared too many people's secrets, and didn't touch on the important stuff nearly enough.

But he was Cecil Palmer. He was the voice of Night Vale, so when he spoke, they listened.

"A small desert community, in which young love sprouts, grows, blossoms, then is corrupted by the touch of society. As always, dear listeners, Welcome, to Night Vale."

The familiar voice filled the space that was occupied by the Dark Owl Records building, and the two or three other customers in the place all stopped momentarily to be welcomed to the town they already lived in, and had, and will, always live in.

"I'd like to begin our show tonight by congratulation Sydney Sarah for coming in fourth place in the annual Desert Run of the Century. While Sydney didn't win, she gave it her absolute best shot, and since there were only three people running, the fact that she managed to come in fourth is impressive in itself. Still, though, she managed to beat out Desert Bluff's runner, Emmanuel Johnston, who is technically and biologically, a cactus. So we all know he had an advantage in the heat of the day."

Had PJ ever met Sydney? He couldn't remember. A lot of the news focused on people that PJ never knew, and yet made him feel strongly compelled to want to know them. Sydney came if fourth? That's amazing! He had to congratulate her!

The fact that one voice could make him care about someone he didn't care about sometimes greatly concerned PJ.

"In Similar news, a Public Service Announcement from the Night Vale Juvenile Detention Centre consisted of nothing but cat hisses. We sent an intern-"

PJ held his breath.

"-Intern Ellaina out there to check out what they would need to make a PSA about. She was eaten."

PJ felt his whole body relax, relief swimming through his body quite invasively as he didn't recognize the name. Cecil sending anyone anywhere ended with the same situation, and he tuned out the next minute as the radio host went on about how Elliane will be missed, how great she was at making coffee and then recited all of her middle school speeches, front to back.

While this was going on, PJ decided to turn him out. He knew that when Cecil started talking about something more thrilling, they'd all go back to listening. For now, he stared at the album he was pretending not to see.

"Looking for something?" a familiar light, musical voice asked, and PJ looked up, eyes meeting long, slender legs, up to a pink and white striped dress that ended above the knees, following it to a slender waist with a brown, fashionable belt around it, to the sweetheart neckline of the dress, and a little flower pendant. The face that looked down at him was breathtaking, with a small, narrow nose, narrow, shaped eyes that were blue and gold and yellow at the same time. Ruby lips and pale skin, and blonde hair that was shaved close to the sides, but kept long and curly on the top.

She was a she, today, he noted.

She shifted the satchel that hung at her hip, with the Night Vale Community Radio logo on it, and stuck out a hand to help him up. He accepted the hand and pulled himself up, feeling a spark of energy through his body as he touched her skin. There must be a storm coming.

Her name was Fairy Sullivan, and PJ had been, for the past six months, completely and absolutely smitten with her since he first met her. Fairy Sullivan was also not her real name, but it was closer to her real name that PJ was to PJ's real name.

PJ himself had spent the first month of his enrapture with her have an emotional break down, as he was, one hundred percent (he'd thought), gay.

And Fairy had been a boy when they'd met, but then had been a girl, and PJ decided that for the sake of the beautiful human he could identify as bisexual.

The other big hurdle for PJ had been that Fairy was currently a Night Vale Community Radio Intern, and he knew that the interns had very short shelf lives. What if, one night, at seven pm he turned on the radio and Cecil was apologize profusely for his or her death, whichever they were on the day he sent them out to find out if the wild boar in the desert was friendly? Or if the volcano was still hot. Or to pick up a newspaper. Chances are, if Cecil asked, they died.

Fairy had, to date, survived seven months of the program, which, in total, was two years. One year and five months of intense stress to go.

"Hey, Fairy," he stammered, trying to calm his heart and make his mouth less dry.

"PJ," she responded politely.

"I'm looking for the Blue Hardly album that came out yesterday," PJ told her quickly. She looked down.

"There's only one album on that self, PJ," Fairy replied, tilting her head a bit. God, she was absolutely stunning in the dim light.

"Right, so there is," PJ said quickly, bending down to grab the album.

"Wait!" Fairy exclaimed suddenly, and PJ froze, nearly falling backwards in his haste. This was Night Vale. Someone calling anything frantically was cause to be concerned. "Doofus," she said playfully. "You forgot to cry for it."

Right. Crying. PJ could do that, totally. He tried. He thought of all the sad things he could. His cat, The Black Lord of Time, disappearing into the Dog Park a few months ago. His father, telling him to not waste usefulness on useless things. The fact that that probably wasn't his dad.

He thought about how he still hadn't asked Fairy out.

Nothing was working.

"I can't cry on demand," PJ admitted eventually. Fairly seemed confused.

"Everyone can cry on demand," she said, frowning.

"I can't," PJ insisted.

"I'll grab it for you," Fairy said, shrugging, and bent down, quickly squeezing out a tear and dropping it on the record, before grabbing it and standing up, handing the album to PJ.

"Thanks," he said, feeling his fingers brush her's as the album moved hands.

"Don't mention it," she said, smiling at him ever so slightly.

The two nodded, the darkness of the room preventing either of them from reading the other's face completely, and as they stood for an eternity in Dark Owl Records, PJ found, somewhere deep in the back of his almost adult skull, the insane courage to do what he wanted to do.

"Hey, do you maybe want to go grab some coffee somewhere?" he stammered out, feeling his face flush red, and glad for the dimness of the room.

Unbenounced to him, Fairy blushed the same, if not much darker shade of red, hanging her head and gripping tighter at her bag.

"That could be nice," she reasoned. "Perhaps tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow's great." PJ said, and suddenly he felt an immense weight lifting off his shoulders, and his heart felt like butterflies, and his stomach with the familiar, nervous feeling of pine beetles crawling in and out of his organs.

"I've got to grab something for Cecil though," Fairy said. "He wanted… His exact words were 'anything not branded by the three antlered king', which is pretty broad, but I think we was telling me he wanted one of the new audio books they're trying out."

"Oh," PJ said, and the pine beetles were swallowed by a menacing hawk. She had been sent here by Cecil. "Mind if I stick around?"

"Hmm?" Fairy asked, laughing a bit at the strange question.

"I just… Like spending time with you," PJ said quickly, and that wasn't exactly a lie. But what else could he do? Maybe if he was there, whatever would undoubtedly happen could be stalled. "I don't have anything better to do today anyways."

"Well then, it's a date," she said, and skipped past him, further into Dark Owl Records.

PJ turned and followed her, trying to wipe the goofy smile off his face, and completely unaware of Michelle, watching him from the corner of her eye, or the Sheriff's Secret Policeman, standing in the other aisle and watching him through the gaps in the records.

Had he known, would it have made much of a difference? Probably not.

He'd forgotten to pay attention for when Cecil came back to important news, so all he heard of the end of the segment was:

"And that has been a message from the City Council. There were no survivors. Remember kids, sound can be as bad as sight. And smell is as bad as touch. Taste is on par with pyrokinesis, and the moon above us is better than the sun."

PJ laughed. What the Hell did that even mean?

If only the poor musician had stopped to asked, perhaps he could have foreseen his future a little bit better. As it was, PJ was more preoccupied at the moment, with the possibility of a new relationship with the absolutely stunning human that was Fairy Sullivan.

And time kept moving (relatively) forward, and his heart kept beating (relatively) steady, and his mind kept running (relatively) sanely, because everything was relative in Night Vale. Nothing was black or white and nothing ever followed what that scientist called 'scientific laws'.

Well, nothing except for PJ Noteworthy, that is.


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER TWO: Thanatophobia

Night Vale had fallen into night, which was strange as it was, or had been, three in the afternoon, but PJ wasn't inclined to bring it up since Fairy hadn't seemed to notice. Not wanting to seem like the odd one, he accepted that this date was now at night. Threw off picnic plans, but he was sure a restaurant would be just as fine.

This was, officially, the third time he'd met with Fairy outside of 'accidental' meetings, and the first which he thought had potential for a romantic atmosphere. (Then night had happened, but he was confident he could recover it).

Fairy had skipped a few feet ahead of him, and had bent down, fawning over a beautiful purple flower of which PJ couldn't identify.

Fairy - today being male, PJ had noticed enthusiastically, - had a knack for getting distracted, wander off to some pretty bird or butterfly, a shiny shell tucked under something, often without warning or actively pointing out where they were going. It was an adorable trait, PJ decided, and he loved the way their eyes would light up in delight, they whole body relaxed and happy.

Dressed masculine today, the biggest difference was that his hair wasn't styled, left awkward and shaggy wherever it fell, and his pale blue checkered shirt was plain and normal. His Intern bag was still the same though, and his eyes hadn't changed colour either.

"So, are you really a musician?" Fairy as suddenly, standing up as the purple flower slithered away. PJ watched it go with alarm, and had to drag himself back to the conversation.

"What? Yeah. Why'd you ask?" he said, tilting his head a bit. Fairy stuffed his hands in his pocket, turning and falling into step beside PJ as they walked.

"Well, I tried to find your music online, and there wasn't anything," he explained.

"I haven't put anything online," came the obvious response.

"Yeah, but the Sheriff's Secret Police put all musician's work online," Fairy reminded him. "If you were really a musician, yours would be there."

Whether he should be insulted or pleased wasn't really a concern for PJ, but he was definitely unsurprised.

"They don't seem to follow me," PJ responded.

Fairy nodded, unconvinced, and crossed his arms.

"So, where are we heading?" he asked after a moment, the darkness seeming to break for him as he walked, leaving PJ to suffocate within. Maybe it wasn't darkness, so much as a sudden smog, PJ reasoned, it would make sense, as he hadn't previously thought Darkness had texture.

"I was planning a picnic, but I was think, with all this… whatever around, we could kill time somewhere then head over to the Moonlite Diner? It's not fancy, but I can't really afford anywhere else," PJ stammered, suddenly realizing how silly he sounded out loud. Fairy seemed Unfazed though, and nodded.

"Sounds great," he replied, then startled PJ by reached out suddenly and taking his hand, linking their fingers and making the boy blush, ducking his head but not wanted to pull away. He felt Fairy nudge his shoulder, before pulling him around the corner.

Immediately though, he shrieked, leaping back and bumping into PJ, nearly stumbling over had he not steadied him.

Pacing, heads down and cloaks drawn, were figures shrouded in darkness and fear, and Fairy was clearly ready to run or cry or scream or do something let him get out, emotionally or physically. He dreaded them, hated them, but didn't dare say anything, only averted his eyes as they passed, one on either side of them.

PJ, well, he didn't feel fear. He could see the muscles and body of whatever was beneath the cloaks bending and moving beneath them, he could hear the faint sound of their feet clicking on the pavement, and he could feel their presence the way one can with anything, as they got closer.

One looked, straight up at PJ, eyes, had he been able to make them out, boring straight through into his soul. But it passed without a word or movement of aggression.

Fairy was shaking by this time, shuddering and rolling in on himself, his eyes closed and his breath coming in ragged gasps.

"Oh god," he stammered out, "Oh god, oh god, oh god, they're going to kill us, aren't they? They're going to… something…"

"They're fine," PJ assured him, but he didn't seem convinced.

Fairy eventually regained his composure, but he now seemed jumpy. Slowly, PJ tried to coax him back into their walk, but his legs were shaking and his eyes were focused on far off places. His whole body screamed terror.

"They really got to you, didn't they?" PJ asked eventually, pulling Fairy down and onto a bench for the bus stop. The buses were unreliable though, so if they'd actually had wanted to go anywhere, they'd have been waiting for quite a while.

"I can't help it," Fairy stammered out, hanging his head in his hands. "Everytime they come near, everything…"

PJ waited, knowing prying or pressing wasn't a way to get him to open up.

"I can't help it," he repeated again.

"But what is it, exactly?" PJ asked, and he honestly was curious. He'd seen tons of locals interact with the Hooded Figures before, but none of them had reacted as badly as Fairy did.

"It's… I'm terrified," he began, "Of dying. Of death. Actually," he said quickly, "I'm terrified of Night Vale. Everything here, I love, I really do, and more than anything, one day, I want to run the radio station," he went on, and it crushed PJ to hear the beginning of tears forming in his eyes. "But every damn thing in this town wants to kill me. My internship wants to kill me, my cat clawed by neck the other day, Cecil _dropped_ one of the bloodstones while carrying them and nearly killed everyone in the station, the Hooded Figures are around every corner, wheat turns into snakes and I don't even know what's wrong with the tap water recently," he rambled on and on.

Tentatively, PJ wrapped one arm around his shoulders, pulling him closer in the dark smog. He hadn't realized Fairy had had that sort of fear. Nothing in Night Vale had ever gotten to him.

"Well, maybe-"

 _Crash!_

Both jerked up suddenly, scanning through the darkness, vainly trying to find the source of the sound. PJ felt Fairy tense against him, and instinctively moved his arm to protect him.

There was silence, then the slow, constant pounding of feet approaching. Then multiple sets of feet.

Someone appeared around the corner, in the darkness, PJ couldn't make out any sort of feature or descriptive word to assign them, but they approached the bench on lightning-quick feet, sliding in front of PJ, who opened his mouth to ask if he could help, but she - a detail about the person PJ had recently decided on - had already sat down beside him in one smooth motion, reaching forward and grabbing his face.

Before he could process what was going on, he was being kissed, fiercely, with no emotion or regard to what he was doing, but the pounding of boots surrounded him, and between the heat suddenly burning on his skin, and this girl, who was _really_ going at it.

It was disorienting, and eventually he was shoved away from her, bumping against Fairy, who was as, if not slightly more confused, than PJ currently was.

Coughing, both of embarrassment and tension, he finally composed himself enough to talk.

"What the Hell was that?" Fairy shouted, beating him to the punch. He was, despite the current situation, was gratified to feel Fairy's hand twining with PJ's defensively.

"Sorry, sweetheart," the girl began, clearly out of breath.

She leaned back a bit, and as his eyes got used to her being there, and his mind came down from the pure adrenaline it had previously been at, he was able to get a better look at her.

Ripped black jeans, a deep orange t-shirt, a black leather jacket down up to about in the middle of the chest, and left in such away that gave anyone who may desire just enough of a look at her body. She was wearing a orange and black scarf, that was big and covered much of her chin and ears. Her boots were caked with dried mud, so she clearly did a lot of travelling, but not recently.

Her hair was pale orange, her eyes a narrow and startling green.

"I had to borrow your boyfriend for a moment. Secret Police members don't recognize those that participate in PDA as official residents, so it's a great way to get out of trouble," she continued, laughing a bit as she leaned back.

"That doesn't- why were you running?" PJ stammered out, shaking himself off.

She glanced around. "I can't really tell you," she said. "That was the point of running."

"I feel like after first-base I've got a right to know," PJ snapped.

She smiled, then laughed, in a full, honest, pure way that made PJ almost want to smile, if he wasn't so mad and confused at the moment. She brushed her hair behind her ears.

"My name's Autumn," she offered, standing up and swaying on her feet, spinning gracefully around to stick her hand out to him, PJ took it, shaking it lightly.

"PJ," he responded.

"I'm Fairy," Fairy interrupted roughly, glancing between the two aggressively.

"Fairy's a girl's name, if a name at all," Autumn snapped without looking at him.

"Well, whoop-dee-do," Fairy snarled.

"Alright, moving on," PJ said suddenly, standing up and pulling Fairy up with him, resting a hand on the pretty boy's back, leading him away slightly. Autumn watched them, tilting her head and letting her amber hair spill over her shoulder.

"It was great to meet you, and I'm just so glad I could help," PJ stammered. "But I think it's about time we went our separate ways, don't you think?"

"If you want," Autumn shrugged. "I was thinking that you two don't seem so bad, maybe you'd want to come down to the Jubilee with me."

The Jubilee was a bi-weekly event that was put on by Mayor Cardinal, or, at least, in her name, as the Mayor never said anything against or for the event. It also wasn't technically a festival or event of any sort, and usually consisted of a group of young adults standing in the gorge out in the sand wastes and screaming at the sun for a bit.

It was very hard to get it, as you had to be accompanied by someone you didn't know well, or at all, and in a small, close-knit town like Night Vale that was hard to achieve.

Fairy perked up though, despite the fact that it would include being around Autumn more, and would cancel their date. Night Vale residents were programed to feel inclined towards the Jubilee, but for some reason PJ had never been able to feel that.

"Sure," he said, noticing the way Fairy had regain some of his normal cheer.

"Yes!" Autumn exclaimed, leaping into the air, now we've got to hurry, otherwise we'll miss it," she added, and Fairy frowned.

"The Jubilee doesn't end," Fairy commented.

"What Jubilee are you thinking of?" Autumn scoffed. "Now come on, their about to start the pie-burning demonstrations!"

Oh, no, this was the Fruit Jubilee. A monthly occurrence that consisted of the destruction of various fruits. Not to be confused with the Egg Jubilee, a yearly event, or the Dog Jubilee, a bi-yearly event.

The Fruit Jubilee was much less intriguing.

"Oh, well, sorry, I misunderstood you," PJ said, trying to backtrack. "I don't think the-"

"You're the Sullivan Intern, right?" Autumn cut him off, turning to Fairy. "I heard Cecil loves the Fruit Jubilee. He'll probably be there, and it's a great way to show that you're better than the other interns, especially since Intern Rajwinder is already half-way through his second year, and you know what the interns who survive the internship get to do…" she taunted. Fairy huffed.

"Why are you so intent on us going?" Fairy snapped. Autumn glanced at PJ quickly, then back to Fairy.

"I'm not sure yet," she said quietly. "But I just got out of prison, and the Sheriff's Secret Police aren't actually that intelligent. They keep their security camera's on this one-" (here she beckoned to PJ) "-nearly twenty-four seven, and I'm very intrigued."

"Me?" PJ squeaked.

"Yeah, you, and I don't think they know why either," Autumn shrugged. "But why else would I escape at this time, on this day, and run here, if I hadn't already known where you'd be?"

"Why were you in jail?" PJ stammered, trying to switch the focus of the conversation away from it. It was unsettling to think that they'd been watching him - probably were still watching him, and likely always would. He… Didn't know how they were doing that. All the other recorders and cameras had never really worked for him. They must be insistent on keeping tabs on him.

She glanced around then smiled and leaned forward.

"I like to read," she laughed, before holding one delicate finger over her lips.

Fairy gasped and clung closer to PJ, glaring at Autumn like she was a monster, intently staring her down as if she expected this to defend her from catching the rebel-disease that Autumn carried - if that was a thing.

"And one more thing," Autumn laughed, before PJ was able to say anything. "We're not going to a Jubilee. You've got to come with me, because I'm about ninety-percent sure that the Sheriff's Secret Police are you going show up and take you for re-education."

Fairy shrieked, reacting so strongly again, but PJ felt fairly strangely numb to this information, nodding along. Maybe re-education would be what he needed. Maybe it would mean that everything would scare him, and he'd be able to cry on demand, and the invisible pie would actually be invisible, instead of normal pie that was actually pretty bad.

"PJ, we've got to go with her," Fairy stammered.

"Why the sudden change of heart?" PJ asked.

"Re-education is serious business. You don't come out of that the same, you'll be changed, permanently, forever, and not in a good way," he went on.

"Exactly, and while I don't really care for you, I've spent the last few weeks watching your entire life - watch you fumble _uselessly_ over your affection for this one and the struggle that is your music," Autumn pointed out. "It was impossible not to want to help."

"Alright, fine, but I'm not going to any… Fruit Jubilee," PJ stammered, pressing his palms against the cold stone of the bench. It seemed like it as squirming beneath him, and the young boy felt bile rise in his throat.

"It's a good way to get their eyes off you for a bit, they'll be so much going on," Autumn explained, and Fairy nodded, the two reaching an almost agreement.

"No, you don't understand," PJ said, "that's not normal! You shouldn't have to evade the police _for the time being._ They shouldn't be watching me _period!_ I should have my own damn privacy, my own life, I should be able to live without every god-forsaken ritual making me basically handicapped!" he shouted. "And their watching me?"

"PJ…" Fairy began, but the boy's mind had been decided.

"No, I'm sorry, Fairy, but I'm getting out of here. I can't live in this damn town anymore. It's not my world, couldn't you tell?" PJ said, his voice cracking. "I don't belong here. I belong where there sun works in a linear fashion, where money has a static value - and is used! I belong somewhere where I can trust the benches I sit on - and where a job won't kill me. I'm too… average for this town."

"Nobody is average, PJ," Fairy said slowly. "You're not average. You're fantastic, you're brilliant, you're your own star, by being so normal, so out-of Night Vale fashion, well, that makes you a Night Vale citizen! That's what weird about you, PJ," he tried, but PJ couldn't be swayed.

In fact, PJ had known this truth for most of his life. He'd always known that he wasn't fully part of the Night Vale community. Perhaps that's why he didn't know his parents. Perhaps he was just… born not in Night Vale. And if that was the case, he needed to find out what _his_ world was like.

"No, I'm done, I won't have the secret police following me anymore," PJ decided.

"If you're leaving Night Vale, I'm coming with," Autumn declared suddenly.

"What? But I barely know you," PJ stammered, and Fairy glared at her.

"Did you not hear me, boy?" Autumn snapped. "I said I like to _read_. I'm not getting arrested again because I love the literary. It's legal out there, apparently. I've been wanting to get out for a while now, I've just never known how to start."

"Well," Fairy stammered. "I mean…"

"You don't have to come Fairy," PJ stammered, and he could feel his heart clenching. He'd finally been able to get to know him, and now he was volunteering leaving him? "I know this is your home, you fit in here."

"But there'll be a less chance of getting killed out there." Fairy said in an almost whispering voice.

"Are we actually going to do this?" Autumn said, rocking back and forth on her heels.

"Oh god, I think so," PJ stammered out.

"Alright, we've just got one stop to make first then," Autumn declared. "Come on!" she grabbed PJ's hand, who, as he was jerked up off the slightly living bench grabbed Fairy's hand, dragging him up too. Autumn proceeded to drag them off down the dark street, and it took a moment for PJ to gather himself enough to ask any other questions.

"Where are we stopping then?" PJ asked.

"Carlos's lab, of course!" Autumn laughed back. "I've got a friend who'll want to know about this. Plus, we'll need a guide out in the outside world," she laughed again, and PJ heard Fairy catch her contagious laughter. "Oh my God, this is so exciting. I can't believe this is finally happening!"


End file.
